Investigating volunteer tourist experience in Embodiment Theory: a study of Mainland Chinese market

ABSTRACT

This study characterizes the potential volunteer tourists in mainland China through the collection of online travel notes between January 2016 and June 2019 (a total of 218,334 words) and an online questionnaire with a sample of 211 respondents. Based on the Embodiment Theory (ET), this study explores the characteristics of volunteer tourist experience. The results construct a theoretical model consisting of three stages and six levels of embodied tourist experience, with each bearing different connotations and characteristics. This research advances the theoretical understanding of the knowledge in volunteer tourist experience for destination management organizations and other public and private organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Alternative tourism
• Chinese volunteer tourists
• content analysis
• embodied tourist experience
• embodiment theory
• online travel notes
• sustainable tourism
• tourist experience
• volunteer tourism marketing
• voluntourism

Highlights

• The Chinese volunteer tourists are repeated individual or group participants with longer travel duration.

• The embodied volunteer tourist experience involves internal (body-mind immersing and cognitive experience) attributes.

• The external conditions affecting embodied volunteer tourist experience include situational reflection and social experience of participants.

• Both altruism and egotism determine the travel motivations of Chinese volunteer tourists.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.